Things Can Really Fly (Quantum Levitation Demonstration at North Museum )

This is no bullshit – this thing can really fly and I hope to see it bigger in action when still I am alive.

If that science kit your son or daughter gets for Christmas doesn’t cut it, boy does the North Museum of Natural History & Science have something for you.

The museum will be previewing its newest attraction, a technological showpiece likely to dazzle even the most jaded of kids — and adults.

Called a quantum levitator, it’s a circular track of magnets above which a razor-thin disc magically levitates, seeming to defy the laws of physics.

Purchased for about $7,000 from Tel-Aviv University, the levitator is believed to be the only one of its kind in a United States museum.

The key to the levitator is the disc, which is made of superconducting material sandwiched between layers of gold and sapphire crystal. A piece of foam is placed on top and held in place with household plastic wrap. The disc is then dipped into a brew of liquid nitrogen (temperature: minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit).

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xuEY2bm-W50#!

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Category: Offbeat